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How Many Eggs Do Frogs Lay? (And Why Lay So Many?)

How Many Eggs Do Frogs Lay? (And Why Lay So Many?)

You might have heard that frogs lay a LOT of eggs. That’s true. But do you know how many eggs frogs lay? Or why they lay so many? Read on to find out…

How many eggs do frogs lay? Female frogs lay thousands of eggs. Depending on the frog and its species, the number can range from 2,000 to 20,000 eggs.

Why Do Frogs Release Such A Large Number Of Eggs

Why do frogs lay so many eggs?

The first reason for that is the fact that other animals see the eggs as food and gladly feast themselves on those eggs. This is why you won’t see much frogspawn in ponds with fish.

The second reason is the fact that those eggs aren’t protected from the sun by anything. Normally (when you look at birds for example) the eggs have a strong layer of protection.

Frogs don’t have that. This means that when the frog eggs aren’t laying in water, the sun will dry up those eggs and the tadpoles inside will die.

With all these things that could go wrong with the eggs, there aren’t many that will survive. A rough estimate is that only 1 in 50 eggs will survive and will grow from an egg into a tadpole.

To put this into perspective… When a female frog lays 20,000 eggs and all of them get fertilized, only about 400 of them will grow into tadpoles.

But, this doesn’t necessarily mean that there are going to be 400 frogs. Frogs are, in various stages of their lives a prey for other animals. So chances are that other animals will eat many of the tadpoles that are in the pond in the weeks that it grows into a young frog.

So, why do frogs release such a large number of eggs? Frogs release a large number of eggs to make the chance of producing offspring greater. Fertilization happens outside of the female frog. That means that the chance of the eggs surviving is small. Other animals can eat the eggs or when the eggs aren’t getting any water they will dry up and die. By laying lots of eggs, it’s more likely that some will survive.

Why do frogs lay their eggs in water?

I think all of us have seen some frogspawn from time to time and the thing to notice is that it looks and feels jelly. This means that the eggs of frogs don’t have a hard protective layer over their eggs as birds and reptile eggs do.

Now, this is exactly the reason why they lay their eggs in water. You see, when they don’t do that, the eggs will dry up, and then the very tiny tadpoles inside will die.

The best spots for frogs to lay eggs

Ponds

The frogspawn of females is usually found in well-vegetated, shaded, and shallow ponds. But it is worth to mention that, if you want to find some frog eggs, you should avoid the ponds with fish in them. Normally you wouldn’t find many frogs there because the fish could eat the frogspawn.

Frogspawn in pond
frog eggs spawn in pond vegetation

Drainage

Frogs can also use a drainage ditch to lay their eggs. Especially after warm rains. So, if you want to find eggs in a drainage ditch, go outside after warm rains and look and search the water for eggs.

Frog Sapwn in drainage ditch

Water from raining

As I stated above, frogs like to breed after warm rains. This does not only mean that you can find eggs in drainage ditches or ponds but also in a puddle of water.

Frogspawn in a puddle of water

But most lay their eggs and attach them to submerging vegetation near the edge of the body of water.

Related Questions

Do frogs stay with their eggs? Normally frogs don’t stay with their frogspawn. They just lay the eggs and go on with their lives. But, there are some female frogs why will stay around their eggs and wait until the tadpoles hatch. She then proceeds to take care of them.

How many times a year does a frog lay eggs? The breeding time of the year is from January till March (depending on weather conditions). This means that female frogs will lay her eggs once a year.